


New Beginnings

by camiludd



Category: NCIS
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Heartbreak, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Past Relationship(s), Post-Divorce, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-23
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-08-06 07:51:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16384169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camiludd/pseuds/camiludd
Summary: Ellie doesn't expect to run into Jake, but she does.16x02 parallel





	New Beginnings

“Go home, Bishop.”

Ellie looked up at Gibbs’ words, her eyebrows knotting together in confusion.

“You’ve been no use since we got back from NSA. Go home and cool off, collect yourself before coming back tomorrow. You’re gonna have to work with him again.”

In that moment, she was rather glad that Nick and McGee were still not back from talking to their witness.

“How did you…?”

“Just go home, Bishop,” Gibbs said, giving her a final glance before going back to his computer. “That’s an order.”

She sighed, shoving her laptop in her bag and heading to the elevator. As soon as the doors closed in front of her, she leaned back against the wall, sinking down to the floor. For the first time all day, she gave herself a moment to process the events of earlier. The moment was over all too soon, however, as she felt the elevator come to a halt.

 

“Bishop?”

Ellie’s head snapped up at the sound of Nick’s voice, glancing around for the source from her spot on his front porch. She gave him a weak smile as he came closer, his face a mix of concern and surprise.

“Jesus, Ellie, what are you doing out here? It’s freezing,” he said, grabbing her arm and helping her up before fishing his keys out of his pocket. “Bishop, seriously, you’re freezing. Gibbs told us you went home ages ago, how long have you been here?”

“Not long,” she shrugged, leaning into his side slightly as she suddenly realised how cold she was. “Maybe a half hour. I cleaned every inch of my apartment that could possibly be cleaned, and I still felt like shit, so I figured I’d come here. I didn’t really wanna be alone anymore.”

Nick nodded, pushing the door open and letting Ellie in. She was suddenly overcome with a feeling of warmth, not surprised Nick kept his apartment warm since he constantly talked about how much he hated D.C. winters.

As soon as he shut the door he went into his room, coming out a moment later with a sweatshirt in his hand.

“Jacket off, put this on,” he ordered, taking her jacket and throwing it on a coat rack along with his. “Beer?”

“I’m good, thanks,” she said, shaking her head.

The two sat across from each other on the couch, Nick watching her carefully as he took a sip of his beer.

“So, why did Gibbs make you leave early? McGee seemed kind of worried after he found out, said he tried texting you but you didn’t respond.”

Ellie paused for a moment, thinking back to that morning.

 

_She had volunteered to be the one to go to NSA headquarters, since she knew it better than anyone after years of working there. They had needed to consult with the NSA on a case, and needed to consult with them about legalities of a few issues along with security things._

_It had started out nice, she saw a few people that she had remembered from her time there, as well as a few coworkers she used to be close with, before getting to the conference room she was supposed to be meeting the lawyers and analysts in._

_She wasn’t expecting, however, to walk in to the conference room and come face to face with her ex-husband. She knew she was going to get there early - she always preferred being early to being late - but she hadn’t realised that she would be the second person there. She froze as soon as she recognized him, his back to her as he spoke to someone on the phone._

_She stood there for a moment, trying to decide whether to make her presence known or slowly back out of the room and wait for someone else she was supposed to meet with outside. The decision was made for her when Jake glanced behind him, jumping slightly as he noticed there was someone else in the room._

_“I gotta go, the meeting is going to be starting soon. I love you, see you at home,” he said, ending his call and putting his phone in his pocket. Despite no longer having feelings for him, her heart sunk at his goodbye to whoever he was talking to. It sank even more when she realised who he was talking to._

_“Was that…”_

_“Taylor?” He finished, watching as Ellie nodded, knowing she didn’t want to actually say the name of the woman he cheated on her with. “Yeah. We got married a little over two years ago. Our daughter just turned two.”_

_At that, her heart dropped straight into her stomach, thinking about all the conversations the two of them had about having children, or the lack thereof. Every time Ellie had brought it up, which hadn’t been often, Jake had dismissed it, saying it wasn’t the right time. Same as when she suggested they go house hunting to get out of their cramped apartment on one of the few weekends they had completely free of work._

_But now, here he was, living the life she always assumed they would have with someone else._

_They didn’t speak after that, sitting in a rather tense silence as they waited for the others to arrive._

 

“Ellie?” Nick asked, snapping her out of her trance. She shook her head, shooting him a small smile in apology.

“How much do you know about my divorce?” She asked, figuring McGee probably filled him in on what happened between her and Jake.

“Besides the fact that it happened, nothing,” he said, making her eyebrows raise. “It’s not any of my business what happened. I figured if you wanted to talk about it, you would.”

Ellie sighed, grateful for Nick’s respect for her privacy while simultaneously hating the fact that it made the story harder to explain.

But, she explained anyways. She kept her eyes on her lap the entire time, playing with the sleeve of Nick’s hoodie as she spoke. Nick however, never took his eyes off Ellie, his jaw clenching as he listened to her talk about what a piece of shit her ex was.

“I didn’t think it would bother me this much, you know? I’m over him. I knew he would move on eventually. I just, I don’t know. I didn’t really think it would be with _her_ ,” she sighed, still not looking up at Nick, who had set his beer on the table next to him, ready for the hug he knew she was going to need eventually.

“We got divorced three years ago. He’s been married for over two years. They have a daughter who’s two. I always thought that he just didn’t want that stuff. Whenever I tried to bring up kids, or a house, or even a dog, he would just blow me off, saying that it wasn’t the right time with work and everything else,” she paused, all the emotions from the day suddenly hitting her, from the anger she felt towards Jake to the hurt she felt. “But I guess he just didn’t want that with me.”

She finally glanced up at Nick, expecting him to have a look of pity on his face like most people did when they found out she got divorced because her husband cheated on her, but instead, he looked angry. His expression softened as he noticed the tears that were threatening to spill out of her eyes, moving to pull her into a hug.

She immediately curled her head into his neck as he wrapped an arm around her, an instant sense of comfort washing over both of them. Ellie felt relieved, and for the first time all day, felt a sense of safety. Nick still felt anger toward Jake, but slowly felt that anger start to fade away.

“Listen to me, Ellie. Jake is an asshole. He was an idiot to not want a family and a life with you - anyone would be.” Ellie felt her heart flutter at his words, and Nick could feel her smile slightly against him. “You were too good for him then, and you’re too good for him now. So, instead of giving him anymore of your time, which he honestly can’t afford, we are going to watch horror movies and make fun of the idiots that are being murdered, because that is always an instant mood lifter.”

“I hate horror movies.”

“Well then that’s all the more reason for you to not move and use me as a human shield,” he shrugged, a smirk finding its way onto his face. Ellie laughed out loud at that, the first truly happy sound he had heard her make all night, and suddenly he felt himself forget all the anger he felt toward Jake.

The two spent the rest of the night watching horror movies - Ellie spending much longer than needed making popcorn as an excuse to leave the room - before falling asleep on Nick’s couch.

 

When they arrived back at work the next day, they went straight to the NSA, working with the same team Ellie had previously met with. As exhausted as she was, she had to admit she enjoyed watching Nick - along with McGee and Gibbs - question every word that came out of Jake’s mouth.

She had almost gotten through the day without having to speak to Jake at all when he caught her arm on her way out of the conference room.

“Ellie, about yesterday. I-”

“Look, Jake, I really don’t care. You have a new family and a new life now, I understand. Whether or not you feel bad about how it started isn’t my problem, and you don’t need to justify it to me. You made your choices, and they seemed to work out for you. All I know is that I really don’t want anything to do with you, alright?” She said, her words coming out slightly harsher than she meant them too, but meaning it all the same. His hand dropped from where it had rested on her arm, nodding.

With that, she walked out of the conference room, where a grinning Nick was waiting for her.

“I feel like I should start slow clapping,” he said as they began walking.

“You heard that?”

“Oh yeah, and it was epic,” he nodded, making her smile. “I wish I could’ve seen his face, it was probably priceless.”

“It definitely was,” she agreed, a sense of pride washing over her. It felt good to finally get all of that off her chest, and the fact that she was able to say it to Jake’s face made her realise how much she’d changed since starting to work with Gibbs.

“So, uh, do you want to grab a drink after work?” Nick asked, glancing down at her hesitantly.

“Just the two of us?”

“If that’s what you want.”

“Then I would love to.”


End file.
